This might be unAmerican, and is certainly against the code of football fans everywhere, but I cannot stand chicken wings. The very sight of them makes my stomach lurch, and the prospect of cooking them would surely render me…well, not upright.
I do, however, adore teryaki. And so when I saw this recipe while perusing the Web for Super Bowl dishes that would delight and surprise my party animals (aka, husband and kids), I knew I had to make something sauced with that fabulous-sounding sweetness. The result: teryaki and honey mustard chicken bits.
In the interest of satisfying persnickety palates, I knew I also needed pizza. What’s more, I need an inventive interpretation of pizza and one that would accomodate the kids’ and husband’s desire for pepperoni and my desire for another way to eat mushrooms veggies. I asked The Husband last week for his wish list for Super Bowl eats. His (joking, I hope) response: Totino’s Pizza Rolls. “The Boy might like ‘em,” he defended. A bout of quick thinking (or maybe it was happenstance) brought to mind this terrific idea for pizza bites. I’d seen them on a blog earlier in the week and couldn’t wait to find an opportunity to make them.
I made half with pepperoni and mozzarella and half with a mix of sauteed mushrooms, peppers, and onions and served them with a dipping sauce. Definite crowd pleaser.
I know from experience that it doesn’t take a ton to fill this crowd and the more I make, the longer I’m in the kitchen and not watching the game. So I made myself stop at these two “cooked” pieces and filled in the rest of our spread with raw veggies and fruit. And beer.
I was stumped for a quick dessert that would be tasty, snackable, and not result in a ton of leftovers. The Boy suggested root beer floats–which would have been a great idea, except (I don’t like root beer and) that we forgot all about it come Sunday. Much as I would have loved chocolate anything, the last thing we need laying around the house is another load of chocolate. So I settled on Rice Krispie treats cut into football shapes. Bonus: The Husband makes the Krispie treats in our house; it might be his signature dessert as he’s far more patient than I at stirring 75 marshmallows until they’re melted. My contribution: I have too much tubed frosting in my cupboard (I know…but it’s only for accents!), so I broke that out and painted laces on the footballs.
In the end, we had a pretty fair spread. And I ended up with some new recipes that I’d love to make again–the pizza bites were genius!
